Right guys - a few straightforward simple questions:
Cheers,
Peter
No. Your automatic tensioner does this as long as the chain is not as stretched as a bit of knicker elastic.
Yes. Get it to a diesel specialist. (someone who really knows this lump. BMW or LandRover imdependants: . (I kid you not. The LR techies do get trained well on the BMW engines).
Absolutely. Now bend over sir......
BTW, Did you check out FAB? for a s/h unit?
Seriouslt Peter, get it checked out professionally or you'll be chasing all sorts of imaginary or 'urban legend' faults for ages.
Cheers, JB
Right, so new chains then. For a laugh today I went into a Vauxhall dealer to get a price. Receptionist woman went and asked some bloke in the office - he said "that engine's got a chain, sir, it won't need replacing", I said "yes it will, it's got 260k on the clock and the chain's rattling". He got on the phone to someone to find out how long a job it is. They said
9 hours @ £76 / hour, which is just over £800 including parts.How much do you reckon it'd cost me to just get it checked out?
Is the £1500 ballpark figure you quoted a price for a new, or a recon unit?
Not yet.
Thing is, I may well have found the A6 for me - two have turned up, one a
95/N with 95k on the clock for £4.9k, and the other a 97/P with 165k on the clock for £6k (but he'll be flexible on the price, and said he'd take £5.5 - might get him down a bit lower).Both private sales with one owner from new (well, the first one was owned by the blokes dad, who died, then he got it) - first one has full Audi main dealer service history, second one had Audi dealer history for the first few years for warranty reasons, then was serviced as per the manufacturer's schedule by an Audi-trained technician, with everything done on time.
Neither have cruise, but someone on here mentioned a place near me that fits the standard Audi cruise control systems for about £200, so I'll get it done by them most probably.
So basically, I might just put the Omega on ebay without doing anything to it - should easily get my money back - and not bother with it. Probably for the best!
Peter
LOL!
-- JackH
Yes.
Seriously Peter, it sounds like a hopeless case - cut your losses and let someone else have all the aggro.
-- JackH
That's exactly what I'm going to do. It would make a good cheap car for someone able to put a new chain on it, as otherwise it's pretty much immaculate, inside and out, so I'll get hold of any service history that I can, and then let ebay work its magic.
Peter
Good lad... YKIMS.
-- JackH
Seriously Peter, why bother with a diesel at all. You've got your van. Realistically what is your expected annual mileage? I know you carry your keyboards etc so an estate is a must. But why go for a recent Audi at *eeek* money? Do the sums for a 2.5L e34 BMW Touring. You can pick these up for cheers, JB
My reasoning is basically that my van averages around 53mpg on a general mixed bag of driving (including a *lot* of town work), does around 53mpg on a cruise at 70, and about 40mpg on a cruise at 95. The A6 2.5TDI-140, from what I've heard, will average around 46 for the manual version, do around
50-55mpg at 70, and about 40mpg at 95, and that's with the air-con running. So that's equal, if not slightly better economy on a long run (regardless of speed), and at most 7-8mpg less doing a lot of town work. But that 10mpg less would easily be offset by the fact that I'd only be paying one lot of insurance (and my insurance is quite a bit!).Also, running the Carlton plus the van for work, means the van gets used a lot, and the Carlton doesn't get all that much use, which isn't all that good for the battery, and just things generally which will eventually seize up without much use, which is another point for running just the one car.
Obviously my servicing and general running costs will be more with the Audi compared to the Fiesta (really?!), but in the grand scheme of things it won't make all that much difference. Say my annual mileage is around 60k (though if I did more multiple London deliveries and less long distance single drops with no return work this would be a lot less, grrr.), and a set of tyres lasts 60k (I'm reasonably nice to them), that would mean a set of tyres per year. 4 Michelins on the Fiesta cost £180, and lets say they'd cost nearer £300 on the Audi. That's £120 more. But I'd be saving £160 a year on not having two lots of road tax, so I'd be £40 up. And let's say an oil change (doing it myself) on the Audi would be around the £60 mark, compared to £30 for the Fiesta - doing it every 5k that'd be an extra £360 per year. I'm guessing a cambelt change by an Audi specialist would probably be in the region of £400, compared to around £150 for the Fiesta, so another £250 per year. Then other servicing bits (air filters, belts, fuel filters etc.) are going to be more expensive, but probably not dramatically so - say £100 / year. So basically we're talking about another £600-£700 / year extra. Ok, a fair bit. But for that extra money I've only got one car to pay for when it goes wrong, not two. Only one car taking up space on the drive. And the important bit, one car that's in regular use instead of one doing 200 or so miles per day, and the other one only about
30-40 miles per week and potentially having lots of things seize up due to general lack of use.Well, they are expensive, but then they are bloody nice cars. And the model I'm after is also one of the most economical diesels about in a car of its size (discounting the 4-pot VAG PD engines - I want more than 4 cylinders, and besides these are much newer, therefore even more expensive), and still very quick as well (obviously things are relative, but they are pretty rapid).
Not to mention the level of newsgroup friendliness - never been to alt.autos.bmw, but it surely must have nicer people than alt.autos.audi (do a search on my posts there, and discussions with a lovely chap called 'Spider').
I've got to say, I've always loved the shape of the E34, and the 525 is a tempting proposition, what with its 192bhp and all that, but the Audi really does suit my needs much better. Plus I'd have a nice Audi to drive around in all day instead of a Fiesta (ok that could be a potential disadvantage in that if it gets a slight scrape or whatever it's only a cheapie Ford, whereas I'd want to keep the Audi nice, but I'm pretty careful these days!!).
True.
FWIW, I would definitely trust you to do a good job servicing my BMW if I had one - you do seem to be very thorough in looking after your motors.
Lucky I did a google on what YKIMS stands for, as that's the second time someone's said it in the last, erm, day!
Anyway, that's my reasoning anyway. I've driven an A6 and really liked the way it drove, and was very happy with the performance of it. I'm sure I'd be equally happy with an E34 BMW, but the brilliant economy of the Audi swings it for me. But in hindsight I really don't know what I was thinking buying that Omega - a thirsty diesel engine? What's the point? :-) I just saw the electric seats that tilted and adjusted in about 20 different directions, and I was hooked.
The fact that I've got a private plate starting with A6 isn't clouding my rational thought one bit. Honest guv.
Pete
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